Cold water poured on wind farm payment fears

The Clean Energy Council says there is no truth to rumours that payments to landholders who host wind turbines will decrease after the carbon price is introduced.

Anti-wind farm campaigners say the carbon price will decrease the value of Renewable Energy Certificates, affecting payments by AGL to turbine hosts but AGL says that is false.

Russell Marsh from the Clean Energy Council says the positive effects of the carbon price will balance any reduction in the value of the certificates.

He says other wind farm developers have also indicated their payments will not be affected.

"We've spoken to a number of our wind farm members and they've all indicated that it's not the case that there'll be a reduction in payment to landholders once the carbon price is introduced," he said.

"The carbon price helps support the deployment of renewable energy, so actually renewable energy like wind will need less support than it did without the carbon price."

He says some payments to turbine hosts may actually increase.

"In actual fact, talking to a couple of wind farm developers, with the introduction of a carbon price pushing up the price of electricity it may actually [be] that some landholders get more money because their payments are based on a royalty payment on the cost of electricity, so actually you may actually see some landholders get more money as a result of the carbon price," he said.